Ethnicity has an influence on a range of areas including health, education, and employment
Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Ethnic minorities face huge disparities in life experiences and outcomes compared with their white British counterparts, according to a collection of official government statistics being launched on Tuesday.

The ethnicity facts and figures website, a government audit of public services, shows the influence of ethnicity on a range of areas covering health, education, employment and the criminal justice system among 130 topics.

Black people were more than three times as likely to be arrested as their white peers.

In 2015-16 there were 44 arrests per 1,000 population among black people compared with 14 arrests per 1,000 population among white people. People of Asian origin had a slightly higher arrest rate than those from white backgrounds.

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Less than two-thirds of people from ethnic minorities are in work, compared with three-quarters of white people. While working age people with an Indian background are nearly as likely to have a job as white people, those of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin are the least likely to be in employment.

There were surprising differences between ethnicities when it came to taking up smoking: white 15-year-olds are much more likely to smoke than their BME counterparts, with black teenagers least likely to smoke at this age.